Let's Go Fishing

Did you know the fishing industry is worth 11 billion dollars in the United States? That is big business. I don’t know much about fishing. I did not begin to fish until 2020, when I needed any reason to get out of the house when the world was shut down. I met with a guy who taught me how to fish and I caught my first bass. The irony is that I don’t eat fish. It always comes as a surprise to people, but I don’t like it. That makes me the best fishing buddy to have because you get to keep whatever I catch. I enjoy the activity. I enjoy the slowness of it. I enjoy how it feels like the world slows down for just a second. Even if I don’t catch anything, I’m calm.

Fishing was big business in Jesus’ time too. The sea of Galilee was known for fishing. Many of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen. Today, we are going to look at the calling of fisherman to join Jesus in his ministry. This story appears in three of the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We are going to look at all three today.

Matthew 4:18–22 NASB95

Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

This version of the story is very brief. It presents some basic details. It tells us where Jesus was, who he called, and their reaction to his call to follow him.

Now let’s compare this to the version Mark writes.

Mark 1:16–20 NASB95

As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. Immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.

This is almost the same version, but the careful reader will see that James and John left their father Zebedee, but he was not alone. There were hired servants there to assist them. Everything else matches what Matthew is saying. But Luke provides the greatest context for what happens in this exchange.

Luke 5:1–11 NASB95

Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

The passages in Matthew and Mark seem to imply Jesus was just walking along the coast of the sea of Galilee, happened to see these four men, and called them to follow him. If we have been keeping track of chronology, we would remember that Peter and Andrew were already called by Jesus in John chapter one. So how can Jesus call them again if they were already called? Many would claim this a discrepancy, but this may not be if Peter and Andrew followed Jesus on a part-time basis before this day. At this point, Jesus is calling them to follow him full-time.

We also see that there was a crowd there. Jesus was in the middle of teaching a crowd when he asks Peter to let him on his boat and put out from the shore just a little bit. This was used to amplify his voice so the rest of the crowd could hear him. Jesus and Peter know each other pretty well by this point.

After he had finished teaching, he told Peter to let down his nets in the deep water for a catch. He had been fishing all night and caught nothing, but he listens to Jesus. To his and everyone’s surprise, they take in a record number of fish. This passage also shows that James and John were business partners with Peter and Andrew. These four men know each other very well. We are going to look at this story in more detail and look at points of application for us today.

Fishing for Jesus does not wait for us to feel like it.

Jesus asked Peter to put out from the coast so he could teach the crowd. When he was done, he told Peter to put the nets out in the deep water for a catch. Look at how Peter responds.

Luke 5:5 NASB95

Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”

Peter was not in the mood to go fishing. He was tired. He had been doing this all night with no results. I’m sure the last thing he wanted to do was go back out and do it again. I’m also sure he was thinking in his mind that this was pointless. Why would he go back out? How is this time going to be any different than the hours he spent all night doing the same thing? You can bet Peter did not feel like it. But this was Jesus asking. What was he going to do? Say no?

Peter was there when Jesus turned water to wine. He was there when Jesus ministered to the Samaritans. Peter was there when Jesus overturned the tables in the temple. So Peter knows what Jesus is capable of. Notice this does not change his attitude, but we see his willingness to follow in spite of his reluctance to do so.

We know we are called to evangelism and missions. That is not up for debate. Every Christian is supposed to share his or her faith with others. The problem is that it remains low on our priority list. Recent poll data suggests that three out of four Christians are reluctant conversationalists. This means they have less than ten spiritual conversations with non-Christians in a year. Nearly half of those polled admitted to avoiding having spiritual conversations. Most of this is explained by fear of rejection or fear that doing so will cause a conflict. But 80% of Christians still believe that the best thing that could ever happen to a person is that they come to know Jesus, but we don’t believe anyone wants to hear it. But this is not true. Most people are interested in talking about it.

So when we think about going and knocking on doors, canvasing neighborhoods, passing out tracts, or any other form of organized evangelism, we often say the same thing Peter says. “Why would we do that? We did that before and we did not see results. So why do you want us to do that again?” In other words, “I don’t feel like doing that Jesus. I’ve done that before, it didn’t work, and it is not going to work this time.” But Jesus does not command us to evangelize when we feel like it. If we wait until we feel like it, then it will never happen. Peter was told to go fishing even when it did not make sense to him. We must go fishing even when it does not make sense to us. Whether we feel like it or not, our responsibility is to be obedient.

Fishing does not guarantee catching.

Peter had been out all night fishing, yet he caught nothing. Everyone who has ever gone fishing knows what it is like to come home empty-handed. I am a terrible fisherman. I have gone to choke canyon, tips park, the Nueces river, and the gulf of Mexico and have never caught anything. When that happens, it is discouraging. It makes you not want to go fishing anymore. Every time I go out alone and catch nothing, it makes me want to quit because that’s not fun. What I don’t do is use those as learning opportunities and consider how I might do something different next time.

That is often how we feel about evangelism. We go out to try and share our faith. Either someone is uninterested or we cannot bring that person to saving faith. In other words, we go fishing, but we don’t catch any fish. So we become discouraged and we stop doing it because we get the same results every time. We begin to think that the investment of our time is not worth the results. We get the idea that fishing without catching is failure.

But when we fish for men, we have to remember that fishing does not guarantee catching. Evangelism is about faithfulness, not catching. I spoke with Robert Penley this week and he told me a story about a friend of his he invited to church when he was 11 years old. To make a long story short, Robert went into the Navy, his friend was not eligible. They did not see each other after that. Robert Penley is now an interim pastor at a church in Aransas Pass. He was going through the membership cards of the church. He found the membership card for his childhood friend. Here’s the thing. His childhood friend came to faith at their home church in Cuero while he was in the Navy. He moved his membership to this church in Aransas Pass. But what he found was not just the membership card of his dear childhood friend. He also found the membership card of his wife and his daughter. His friend has passed away. Brother Penley now knows that the seed he planted when he was 11 years old bore fruit. Fishing does not guarantee catching. But you will never catch, unless you go fishing.

To be an effective fisherman, you have to go where the fish are.

Old models of evangelism center around inviting people to church. There is still a lingering idea that the goal is to get people here. But the studies show repeatedly that unchurched people are increasingly uninterested in coming to a church. But they are interested in spiritual conversations. If the church is going to be successful in fishing for men, we have to go where the fish are. What often ends up happening is we get dressed up in our fishing outfits, our boats are ready to go, we have all the tools, but we have gatherings where we talk about fishing but we don’t actually go fishing. We must change that.

I heard a statistic recently that stated the overwhelming majority of conversions to Christianity take place outside the church’s normal programs. This is things like Sunday school, the Sunday morning worship service, and Wednesday night bible studies. If that is the case, we should be making investments in the things that get us out there rather than the things that keep us in here. There is a plan being developed that will help take us outside the church so we can begin meeting people where they are. We have to go where the fish are.

What is your attitude toward sharing your faith? How would you grade yourself as one who represents Christ? When was the last time you shared Jesus with someone? We need to strive to change the poor habits that keep us from faithful evangelism and missions. The good news is I was pointed to some resources this week to do just that. My commitment to you is to figure this out. It has become my number one priority. What about you?